Ncube, whose party boycotted the official opening of the Second All-Stakeholders Conference on the new constitution on Monday, accused Mugabe of smuggling Mutambara into the constitution-making process in defiance of a SADC resolution that the Deputy Prime Minister should seize being a principal because he no longer had a party.
“Only this morning, Zanu (PF) COPAC Co-chair, Paul Mangwana advised our COPAC co-chairperson, Edward Mkhosi that Mugabe had threatened not to come for Conference in the event that Mutambara was not allowed to officiate.
“We contacted the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Eric Matinenga, on the development and he said he had received a directive to do that effect, so we decided as a party to boycott the event,” he said.
“The SADC Summit in Maputo resolved that Mutambara was no longer a principal so we then asked how he would officiate at the Second All-Stakeholders Conference,” said Ncube.
He said the move to allow Mutambara to officiate at the conference as a principal was meant to frustrate MDC-N and derail the meeting.
“It is clear that Mugabe’s strategy is to make this GPA not functional and non-inclusive as well as derail the stakeholders’ meeting.
Instead of making it tripartite, he is trying to make it dual by using Mutambara who is a partyless individual (as a tool),” he said.
Ncube indicated that his party had formally written to the SADC facilitation team led by South Africa President Jacob Zuma and the bloc’s Troika to ensure the issue was resolved.
Post published in: News